Patent application title: Light emission structure

Abstract:

A light emission structure includes a circuit board and at least one
light-emitting diode. The circuit board defines at least one opening,
which receives the light-emitting diode therein in such a way that the
light-emitting diode has a plurality of terminals extending over and
supported by the circuit board and a gap is formed between the
light-emitting diode and the opening. As such, heat dissipation of the
light-emitting diode is enhanced and overall thickness is reduced.

Claims:

1. A light emission structure, comprising:a circuit board, which defines
at least one opening; andat least one light-emitting diode, which is
received in the opening defined in the circuit board, the light-emitting
diode having a plurality of terminals extending over and supported by the
circuit board, a gap being formed between the light-emitting diode and
the opening.

2. The light emission structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein the circuit
board comprises one of a printed circuit board, an aluminum substrate,
and a ceramic substrate.

4. The light emission structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of the
terminals of the at least one light-emitting diode forms an electrical
connection with the circuit board by being soldered thereto by one of
solder, tin, sliver, and copper alloy.

Description:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001]The present invention relates to a light emission structure, and in
particular to a combination of a circuit board and at least one
light-emitting diode (LED), wherein the circuit board forms at least one
opening receiving the LED therein, for being applied to assembling
various light-emitting diodes to a circuit board or backlight panel or
the likes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002]A conventional light-emitting diode (LED) based light emission
structure directly mounts an LED to a circuit board to form a lighting
structure or a lighting device. However, the current trend of the
high-precision electronic devices is to get compact and slim. When an LED
is mounted to a circuit board by being directly stacked to the circuit
board, the overall thickness of the light emission structure is increased
due to solder being deposited between the terminals of the LED and the
circuit board thereby leading to increased overall size, which preventing
the light emission structure from being made compact and slim.

[0003]When an electrical current flows through the LED, the LED, which is
so energized, gives off light and at the same time, generates a great
amount of heat, which is transmitted from the terminals of the LED to the
circuit board. Such a great amount of heat is often confined within the
circuit board and the LED and is difficult to dissipate away. This often
makes the LED over-heated and the lifespan thereof is shortened.

[0004]To improve the problem caused by the great amount of heat, a heat
dissipation device, such as an aluminum-made or copper-made heat
dissipation device having a plurality of fins, is employed to facilitate
dissipation of heat. Since the LED is soldered to the circuit board, the
great amount of heat must be transferred through the circuit board to the
heat dissipation device. However, transferring heat through various media
may severely affect the final result of heat dissipation, making the
performance of heat dissipation worse than expected. A solution to such a
problem is thus desired.

[0005]In view of the above problems, the present invention aims to provide
a light emission structure that overcomes such problems.

SUMILLIMETERARY OF THE INVENTION

[0006]An objective of the present invention is to provide a light emission
structure comprising a combination of a circuit board and at least one
light-emitting diode, wherein the circuit board defines at least one
opening, which receives the light-emitting diode therein in such a way
that the light-emitting diode has a plurality of terminals extending over
and supported by the circuit board so as to reduce the overall thickness
and the overall size of the light emission structure, thereby enhancing
the practicability of the present invention.

[0007]Another objective of the present invention is to provide a light
emission structure comprising a combination of a circuit board and at
least one light-emitting diode, wherein the circuit board defines at
least one opening, which receives the light-emitting diode therein in
such a way that the light-emitting diode has a plurality of terminals
extending over and supported by the circuit board to allow the
light-emitting diode to be directly attached to a heat dissipation device
for greatly enhancing heat dissipation performance of the light-emitting
diode and improving the lifespan of the light-emitting diode, thereby
enhancing the practicability of the present invention.

[0008]A further objective of the present invention is to provide a light
emission structure comprising a combination of a circuit board and at
least one light-emitting diode, wherein the circuit board defines at
least one opening, which receives the light-emitting diode therein in
such a way that a gap is formed between the light-emitting diode and the
opening to enhance the heat dissipation efficiency of the light-emitting
diode, thereby enhancing the practicability of the present invention.

[0009]To realize the above objectives, the present invention provides a
light emission structure comprising a circuit board and at least one
light-emitting diode. The circuit board defines at least one opening,
which receives the light-emitting diode therein in such a way that the
light-emitting diode has a plurality of terminals extending over and
supported by the circuit board and a gap is formed between the
light-emitting diode and the opening. As such, efficiency of heat
dissipation of the light-emitting diode is enhanced and overall thickness
is reduced.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0010]The present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art
by reading the following description of preferred embodiments thereof
with reference to the drawings, in which:

[0011]FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a light emission structure
in accordance with the present invention;

[0012]FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the light emission structure of the
present invention

[0013]FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the light emission structure in
accordance with the present invention;

[0014]FIG. 4 is a schematic plan view illustrating the operation of the
light emission structure of the present invention; and

[0015]FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a light emission
structure in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0016]With reference to FIGS. 1-3, the present invention provides a light
emission structure, which comprises the following constituent
elements/components:

[0017]A circuit board 10, which comprises any one of a printed circuit
board, an aluminum substrate, a ceramic substrate, and a flexible printed
circuit board, forms at least one opening 11. (The circuit board 10 may
form a single opening, or as illustrated in the instant embodiment, a
plurality of openings 11 is formed in an edge of the circuit board 10.)

[0018]At least one light-emitting diode is received in the opening 11 of
the circuit board 10. (There may be only one LED 20, or as illustrated in
the instant embodiment, a plurality of LEDs 20 is used.) The LED 20 has a
plurality of terminals 21, which extends over and is supported by the
circuit board 10. Each terminal 21 forms an electrical connection with
the circuit board 10 by being soldered thereto with a solder 50. The
electrical connection can alternatively be formed by means of metals,
including tin, silver, and copper alloy. The LED 20 is received in the
opening 11 of the circuit board 10 in such a way that a gap 30 is formed
between the LED 20 and the opening 11.

[0019]Referring to FIGS. 1, 3, and 4, the circuit board 10 can be a
typical printed circuit board, which has thickness of around 0.4
millimeter. The LED 20, which has a thickness of around 0.6 millimeter,
is received in the opening 11 of the circuit board 10 with the terminals
21 thereof extending over and supported by opposite sides of the opening
11 of the circuit board 10 and mounted to the circuit board 10 to form
electrical connection therebetween. Also, a gap 30 is present between the
LED 20 and the circumference of the opening 11 of the circuit board 10
whereby the gap 30 so formed provides effective dissipation of heat from
the LED 20. Since the LED 20 is received in the opening 11 of the circuit
board 10, the overall thickness of the light emission structure will not
substantially increased by the LED 20 being stacked on the circuit board
10. In the instant embodiment, the overall thickness of the light
emission structure remains around 0.6 millimeter. Thus, a light emission
structure of being compact and slim is provided.

[0020]Referring to FIG. 5, which illustrates a cross-sectional view of
another embodiment of the present invention, to combine the light
emission structure of the present invention with a heat dissipation
device 40, or a plurality of heat dissipation devices 40, the LED 20 is
provided on a surface thereof with a heat slug 22, which is made of
metallic materials of excellent heat conductivity, such as sliver,
aluminum, or copper, in such a way that the heat slug 22 is directly
attachable to the heat dissipation device 40 for dissipation of heat.
Thus, the heat generated by the LED 20 can be directly transferred to the
heat dissipation device 40, without being routed through the circuit
board 10, whereby the heat dissipation efficiency of the LED 20 can be
greatly enhanced.

[0021]Referring to FIGS. 1-5, the features of the present invention is a
combination of a circuit board 10 and at least one LED 20. The circuit
board 10 defines at least one opening, which receives the LED 20 therein
in such a way that the LED 20 has a plurality of terminals 21 extending
over and supported by the circuit board 10 whereby the overall thickness
and size of the entirety of the light emission structure can be reduced
due to the LED 20 being received in the opening 11 of the circuit board
10; that a gap 30 is formed between the LED 20 and the opening 11 of the
circuit board 10 whereby heat dissipation efficiency of the LED 20 is
enhanced by the gap 30 so formed; and that the LED 20 is provided, on a
surface thereof with a heat slug 22 that is directly attachable to a heat
dissipation device 4o to efficiently transfer heat from the LED 20 to the
heat dissipation device 40 for greatly improving the heat dissipation
performance of the LED 20 and enhancing the lifespan of the LED 20
thereby improving the practicability of the present invention.

[0022]Although the present invention has been described with reference to
the preferred embodiments thereof, it is apparent to those skilled in the
art that a variety of modifications and changes may be made without
departing from the scope of the present invention which is intended to be
defined by the appended claims.